Membrane curvature affects the stability and folding kinetics of bacteriorhodopsin

Biological membrane is crucial for the function, stability and folding of membrane proteins. By studying the stability and folding kinetics of bacteriorhodopsin (bR) in lipid vesicles with different sizes, here we report the influence of membrane curvature (vesicle size) on the stability and folding kinetics of bR. The results show that both the stability and folding kinetics of bR can be significantly changed when reconstituted into mimic membranes with different curvatures. The stability of bR decreases and unfolding rate of bR increases with the growth of vesicle size, i.e. decrease of membrane curvature. Our results suggest that it is possible to regulate the properties of membrane proteins by changing the curvature of membranes.